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Hello, Reader

I really did not mean to get into a rhythm of doing one newsletter a month, but that's where we are. This one has a great deal to report. The biggest two items are just below, but work also continues on the second historical crime novel set in 1900s Houston. Plus I'm working on an idea for a new course this spring at Rice University's Glasscock School of Continuing Studies where I've enjoyed teaching on and off for a decade plus. It's called Undertold Texas, and I hope to finalize plans this week perhaps, if the Rice folks like the idea. Either way, I think I'm going to do two small books that contain the material because I think these are some fascinating stories.

New to View

I'm pretty excited about this one. It finally got through my thick skull that something history related might be better at promoting historical fiction and non-fiction books than some other things I've been doing, so I started a history podcast. It's called Prick the Balloon, and it's an irreverent, straight-talking look at (mostly) American history. You can click that underlined link and check it out, or you can find an entire podcasts page on my website under the History link.

With craven politicians and others working so hard to ban books and prohibit certain history courses, even in universities, it's more important than ever that people can get the true, unvarnished stories of our past. It's not always pretty. We're all human, you know. Hero worship and myth making gets us nowhere. I'll be releasing episode 3 this next week, if my voice comes back after this nasty cold. It's on Hollywood blacklisting, and I think you'll be surprised to learn how conservative the powers in Hollywood truly have been over the years.

There are two other episodes already up. If you like podcasts, I hope you'll give them all a listen then follow the podcast. It's on most platforms. (Still working on a glitch with Apple.) If you enjoy the full, fun stories from our shared history, please pass the word about the podcast along to anyone who may enjoy it. Remember, it's called Prick the Balloon.

What I'm Working On

We had a wonderful video shoot for Stand Up Story at 14 Pews in Sunset Heights this past Thursday. Thanks to generous underwriting by Paul and Christine Smith, I got the last three interviews in the can, aside from my own on camera parts. Now it's all editing and post-production and a final fundraising ask. There were more laughs and off-color stories than you can imagine. John Swasey, Bill Silva and Tracy Wright were there. Bill and Tracy are now in glorious 4K to replace most of their interviews from 15 years ago, though I'll be keeping the original version of Silva telling about him, Bill Hicks and Ron Shock fearing for their lives in a sleazy Lake Charles bar. I have 30 great interviews to assemble into a 90-minute or so documentary about the legendary Comix Annex in Houston.

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MIKE VANCE - Home

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